Word: pickerings
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...when Gretel II crossed the starting line 30 sec. before the gun; she had to turn back to cross again, allowing Intrepid to breeze off to a 100-yd. lead. The second goof came on the fifth leg when Gretel II, closing hard on the defender, failed to follow Picker's starboard jibe and went in search of a better breeze on a port jibe. She did not find it. The fourth race saw Intrepid leading at all five marks, but with a scant mile and a half to go, the wind shifted and died down...
...seemed. Though the final trials to decide which of the three U.S. boats will defend the cup do not begin until Aug. 18, the Observation races suggested that Picker and Intrepid are ready to sail off to one of the greatest upsets in America's Cup history. When the U.S. contenders hit the water this spring, Valiant was the heavy favorite simply because she was the latest creation of Olin Stephens, the 62-year-old designer of four of the last five cup champions. In fact, Stephens' winning design for the last America...
...rounder bow, fuller afterbody -have obviously made the white-hulled sloop swifter than ever. What is astonishing is that she may actually be a faster boat than Stephens' brand-new Valiant. Her first two races around the triangular 24.3-mile course set the pattern for the trials. With Picker at the helm, Intrepid handily defeated the trial horse Weatherly by 3 min. 55 sec., and then trounced Heritage by the embarrassing margin...
Valiant, under Skipper Bob McCullough, was the next victim. In their first match, McCullough sloppily cut off Picker's boat in the preliminary maneuvering and was disqualified. Next time out, Valiant took the lead but was soon overhauled by Intrepid in a furious tacking duel; from then on, Intrepid was never headed, as she repeatedly outfooted Valiant on the windward legs of the course to win by 2 min. 14 sec. Two more times Intrepid and Picker proved quicker-by the combined times of 4 min. 20 sec. Only in the last race was McCullough able to salvage something...
...Picker, 42, a prosperous architect from Newport Beach, Calif., Intrepid's showing was fitting answer to those skeptics who felt that he was not up to handling a tricky 12-meter. Though he was co-helmsman of Columbia in the 1967 cup trials, most of his experience is in ocean racers and smaller one-design boats. Nevertheless, Picker, the Star Class world champion in 1958, has proved his contention that the tactics he learned in small boats would serve him well in the America's Cup. A tall, totally bald man, he resembles the thin...